Reset
by DatGlowstickThoe
Summary: Everything went black, and the void swallowed them all, not for the first time... After a Genocide reset, Sans starts to have worse nightmares that usual. Papyrus wants to comfort his brother, but how can you comfort someone who's almost given up? (Spoilers kindof, maybe trigger warning, T for Safety)


**_~AUTHOR'S NOTE~_**

 _Hello, yes, 'tis I, back from the depths of the void. Just to inform any of my followers, my Loki fanfics will mostly be discontinued. I'm going to try to wrap up Freedom Is, but then I'm done. I haven't had time or inspiration really to write on it, so from now on, I'll probably be doing oneshots I wrote in a day or two._

 _Sorry._

 _Anyhow, this is my first UNDERTALE fic. I wasn't going to post it, but then I was overwhelmed with Skelebro feels and could not not post it. So. Here's a thing that's probably OOC, but shhhhh leave me alone._

 ** _ALSO this fic has to deal with depression, anxiety, and existential crises.. crisises..? THOSE. If you are triggered by those things, you may not want to read this fic._**

 _~RFFSTTFN, DatGlowstickThoe 3_

 _Everything went black, and the void swallowed them all, not for the first time. Nobody else had any idea what was going on, but Sans could feel the emptiness. The hole that timeline, and every other timeline, had left. Every memory pressed into his mind and tore at his soul, but he didn't have the power to stop it._

 _Sometimes it wasn't so bad. Sometimes, he left a good world for an uncertain one. Yes, it was painful to be ripped from a good timeline with all your experiences and hard work gone and thrown into the abyss, but oh, God, how much more it hurt to wake up with the memories he did this time._

 _Rather than all manifesting as a clear memory, the previous reset jumbled itself together into a giant mass of terror and pain:_

 _Walking through the snow, expecting to find his younger brother, and instead finding only a ripped red scarf half buried in the snow. Watching on, expecting some sort of change, holding onto hope. Watching as everyone he knew turned to dust and blew away in the wind, just as this world would some day so. Oh, and that kid.. that freaking kid, with their remorseless smile and blood on their hands. He'd promised to protect the human, but he was sure the kid he fought, the one he died at the hands of, was in no way human._

 _Couldn't it have all been avoided? Couldn't he have stopped it? The constant whispers drowned out even his own screams in a chorus of, "Your fault. Your fault. Your fault."_

 _But there were hands on his shoulders, shaking him, and someone was calling out._

 _Sans opened the eyes he hadn't realized were squeezed shut and looked up to see the brother he'd lost because of his own mistakes a million times over. And they embraced. And they cried together. And only one of them knew why._

 _For the next few days, Papyrus grew more and more concerned about his little, albeit older, brother. He'd only come out of his room a few times since the night of the nightmare, and of the stock of ketchup in the refrigerator, only one bottle had been partially consumed. Only a few jokes had been made, and they were halfhearted. Something was definitely wrong._

 _Papyrus made a point to tell Sans that he was there for him and would listen if he needed to talk about whatever was going on, but it was always brushed off with a less-than-convincing reassurance that there was nothing going on._

 _Sans had decided it was a bad idea to tell his brother what was troubling him. It would only cause worrying and stress, and Papyrus didn't need that. Besides, there wasn't really a point to explaining it, was there? No, it would all reset eventually, and on the path to that reset, who knew if either brother would survive or be brutally murdered before the other?_

 _(Sans had never died first, though. He would rather die first,he decided. He would rather die a million times in the most painful way than ever see his brother die again.)_

 _For a while, for a long while, Sans constantly thought about the inevitability of a reset. The futility of getting up, of talking, telling jokes, working, living, dying. Nothing really mattered, and so came the decision to stop pulling himself out of bed and dragging himself through another meaningless day that he would live a hundred times over._

 _For that long while, Papyrus was unable to stop worrying. He'd stopped training with Undyne, who, as a family friend, was almost just as concerned. They'd both taken to sitting on the edge of Sans's mattress and talking to him. They never got a proper response. Sometimes, Sans would pull his sheet over his head or roll over to face the other way- at least they knew he heard them- but he never responded verbally._

 _One day, Sans heard his door open, and shortly after, he felt someone sit next to him. It was all so quiet, which was unusual... But he kept his eyes closed._

 _It could've been an eternity later, or only a few minutes, but finally he heard something. Not "Sans, please get up." Not "I'm here for you." Not words at all, but a sniffle. That sniffle turned to crying, and then, finally, to half-sobbed words._

 _"S-sans, I- I don't know what you're-" Sniff. "Wh-what you're going through, but I-I.. I just wish you'd t-talk to me o-or.." A few quiet sobs. "I- I j-just want to help you.. I j-just.. want to have you b-back.." A pause. "Y-you're my b-brother, and I.. I love you.. A-and if I can't help.. I.. I'm s-so sorry, Sans..."_

 _Sans had never heard his brother like this before. He was always so loud, strong, and confident. Even when he was upset, Papyrus only sounded disappointed or concerned, and that was easily fixed with a joke or a plate of spaghetti._

 _As guilt took over, Sans slowly sat up, then hugging his brother tightly, letting the tears he hadn't realized had formed, fall. "I- I love you, too, Papyrus... I just needed some time to myself.. but now I promise I'm done-" Dramatic pause..._

 _"SKULLking."_

 _"For once, Sans, I'm so glad to hear one of your terrible jokes."_

 _It took a little while for the two to get back into the swing of things. Papyrus had training to catch up on while making sure Sans would be okay. Meanwhile, Sans was trying his best to get back to caring about things. He even started a list on his phone of reasons why he needed to resume being a functioning member of society. Most of those reasons had something to do with his brother. Eventually, he got back up to being his old self again, with only occasional nightmares._

 _Not too long after, while on duty as his second job as a sentry in the woods, Sans met a woman. This woman lived on the other side of a giant door that, to Sans's knowledge, only opened on one occasion per reset. As always, they exchanged jokes. As always, she made him promise not to hurt a human, if ever one came through the door. As always, he promised. And as always, a human indeed came._

 _Sans tried not to judge them to harshly- maybe they'd turn out alright this time. Maybe not.. but he could deal with that then, right? And this time, before Papyrus was killed..._

 _To Sans's delight, and surely to the rest of the underground's delight as well, Frisk was merciful towards everyone. Even that low-life flower..._

 _One day, only a few days after the brothers had moved into their new overworld house, Papyrus ran in with Frisk on his shoulders._

 _"SANS! GUESS WHAT?!"_

 _"What, bro?" Sans asked from the comfort of his new recliner._

 _"THE HUMAN HAS REQUESTED TO MOVE IN WITH US!" Here, Frisk giggled and nodded. "I TOLD YOU HAVING A THREE-BEDROOM HOUSE WAS A GOOD IDEA!"_

 _"Really?" Sans grinned. "Well then, kiddo, welcome to casa de skeleton!"_

 _"COME ON, I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU YOUR ROOM!" Papyrus shouted excitedly, heading down the hall to the extra bedroom. "IT'S IS JUST DOWN THE HALL FROM MINE, SO I CAN COME OVER TO YOUR ROOM SOMETIMES, AND WE CAN HAVE BEST FRIEND SLEEPOVERS EVEN THOUGH WE LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE!"_

 _Sans chuckled before going back to watching T.V._

 _Everything was going well. Sans really liked taking care of Frisk, though Papyrus didn't always approve of the antics they got up to. Here, he only had a part-time job. He enjoyed the free time, spending it either with Frisk or napping._

 _Papyrus had taken up actual cooking classes, and surprisingly, he improved quite quickly. After a while, he'd gotten a job at some restaurant called Olive Garden. He thought he'd get to do a lot more cooking, but mostly he had to get onto people for shoving way more bread sticks than they needed into their purses._

 _But one night, Sans found himself unable to sleep. His mind began to wander._

 _"Life's pretty great right now.. My brother's happy, the kiddo's happy, I'm happy," he thought. "I have to admit, I'm glad Frisk reset last time. I guess the little nightmares aren't too bad a price for this, right? ..._

 _"But what if they reset again...?"_

 _The silence didn't answer him._

 _"What if.. what if they get bored here..? What if they get sick of me? Me, and Pap, and Tori, and..." He shook his head slightly, trying to force the thoughts away. "If they weren't happy, they'd say something... right?"_

 _The thoughts began to consume him. He had somehow assured himself that everything here would be gone in a matter of time, that Frisk would reset because what this world had to offer was getting boring. Everything would be washed away, and he wouldn't be able to stop it. After all the work he'd done to make himself care, to lose the bad memories and focus on this beautiful present..._

 _He felt his left eye start to glow, and both of them filled up with tears. He felt helpless. He had to do something- anything- to assure he wouldn't lose everything again. He got up and started walking down the hall, but he didn't know where to go from there. He started pacing, his mind clouded but still trying to find a solution. At some point, he started muttering to himself, but he was too focused on the deletion of this timeline to care._

 _The sound of his brother's door opening and footsteps, though quiet, were enough to make him turn around._

 _"S-sans..?" Papyrus asked, sounding as tried as he was. "What are you doing up? Are you alright?"_

 _"I- I.. I don't know, bro, I don't.." He sighed and walked into Papyrus's open arms. It felt odd to let this happen, to let Papyrus comfort him and to admit he probably wasn't okay._

 _"Talk to me, Sans, what's troubling you?" He lead Sans back to his room, where he sat with his shaking brother, arm around him comfortingly._

 _Sans tried to find a place to start, but couldn't find the proper words for at least half a minute. Papyrus was more than patient._

 _"Wh.. what if all of this.. what if it.." He closed his eyes, tears slipping out. "It's all going to get reset," he managed to get out._

 _"Reset..? What do you mean, brother?" Sans had never explained it to him- he didn't want Papyrus to end up like himself, always worrying about it, but now he couldn't think enough for explanation._

 _"F-frisk.. they.. they reset it last time, a-and every time before that," His speech became frantic. "And, oh, God, I- I don't think I can do this again, Pap, I don't think I can start over. Not after this. I can't lose you again, I swear, I'll-"_

 _"Again?! Sans, what are you talking about? Slow down!" Papyrus tried to wrap his head around this so he could help, but could only come up with one solution. "You stay right here, I'll be right back."_

 _Sans pulled his knees up to his chest and let himself break down. Soon, though, he felt the bed shift as someone sat down. He felt a small hand on his arm, so he opened his eyes. Frisk looked back, concerned, but ready to help in anyway they could._

 _"H-hey, kiddo.." he sniffed and wiped some tears away._

 _"What's wrong, Sans?" they asked, their voice as quiet and gentle as ever._

 _Sans sighed. It was had enough for him to open up to his brother.. but Frisk could potentially stop the cycle..._

 _"You know what resets are, don't you?" he asked. Frisk nodded. "Do you remember any of the other resets..?" He tried to sound calm._

 _"They're like vague dreams..." Frisk answered, "Or nightmares... I'm not sure."_

 _Sans took a moment to think of how to phrase his thoughts in a non-accusing way. "So.. you know you've reset before, yeah? Quite a few times..?" Frisk nodded again, slowly this time. "Well, nobody ever remembers them. Nobody really knows what they are. Except me. I remember almost every one of them." He paused again to compose his thoughts. "It's really hard to.. to live in a world where you know it'll be reset, no matter what you do... So I'm kind of stuck here, kid, in this endless cycle, you know?"_

 _"Sans...?"_

 _"Yeah, Frisk..?"_

 _They hugged Sans tightly. "I'm sorry.. I didn't know you could.. I didn't mean to.."_

 _"It's alright," Sans replied, knowing that the apology was sincere. Frisk hadn't lied to anyone or tried to hurt anyone in this timeline.. it had to be genuine. "Just... I know this is a lot to ask but.. Can you make a promise?" Frisk pulled away to look at Sans. "Can you promise not to reset this time..?"_

 _Frisk held out their pinky finger. "I promise."_

 _Sans smiled a little and linked his pinky with theirs. "Thanks, kiddo. It means a lot."_

 _Again, Sans took his time with being okay, but this time, he stayed in a good place. Sure, he had his off days, but with his brother and Frisk there for him, he could never stay down for too long._

 _Many years after, Sans and Papyrus were sitting outside on their porch, looking at the sunset. It was almost like the one they'd seen that first day they'd come to the overworld. They sat there, talking. Sans made bad jokes, and Papyrus said he hated them, but smiled anyways. And then they both grew quiet. They both realized that they hadn't seen Frisk in a while. Sans went to get his phone out..._

 _Everything went black, and the void swallowed them all, not for the last time._


End file.
